‘Biomedical waste being dumped carelessly in Doon’

The Making A Difference By Being The Difference (MAD) are conducting a clean-up drive as part of its routine weekly activity near Araghar Chowk on Sundays after its member allegedly found syringes, bandages and even used needles in a dump along the roadside.

MAD members showing bio medical waste that they collected to a staff of municipal corporation.(HT PHOTO)

DEHRADUN: Biomedical waste is being disposed in the open in many areas in Dehradun while the authorities have struggled to monitor the situation, a Doon-based student activist group alleged on Sunday.

The Making A Difference By Being The Difference (MAD) are conducting a clean-up drive as part of its routine weekly activity near Araghar Chowk on Sundays after its member allegedly found syringes, bandages and even used needles in a dump along the roadside.

MAD members rushed to the DMC office and handed over the biomedical waste items that they had collected from the dump to the municipal staff there.

The young volunteers said that the practice was not only harmful for overall public safety and hygiene, but was also in gross violation of the Bio-medical Waste (Management & Handling) Rules that the medical institutions are required to follow.

Mixing of hazardous waste results into contamination and makes the entire waste hazardous. The rules emphasise that there is a necessity to segregate and treat biomedical waste as improper disposal increases risk of infection and encourages recycling of prohibited disposables and disposed drugs.

The volunteers alleged that the Dehradun Municipal Corporation had failed to ensure proper monitoring of the disposal of biomedical waste in the city. “It is a tragedy that in their money-making pursuits, certain hospitals are not complying with biomedical waste management rules and disposing waste openly. What is even more alarming is the fact that these items were not found inside the dustbin but on the road,” said Abhijay Negi, founding president of MAD.

“The waste cleaners and ‘kabadiwalas’ (scrap dealer) who could have been harmed by such syringes and used needles. The same concern also extends to stray dogs and other stray animals which regularly visit such garbage dumps in search of food,” said Shardul Aswal, a member of the group.

Last year, the Uttarakhand environment protection and pollution control board sent notices on around 67 medical facilitators operating in and around Dehradun for irregularities, including improper disposal of biomedical waste.

Dr Kailash Gunjyal, senior municipal health officer of the DMC, said the civic body would look into the complaints and take strict action against those found dumping biomedical waste carelessly.

According to the Union environment ministry, the quantum of bio-medical waste generated in India is estimated to be 1-2 kilogram per bed per day in a hospital and 600gm per day per bed in a clinic. The total bio-medical waste generation in the country is 484 TPD (tonnes per day) from 168,869 healthcare facilities, out of which 447 TPD is treated.